Falling Upwards - Arknights

Chapter 22: Time With Each Other

- Rhodes Island, 0530 hours \ Sunny | Some time later... -

Life had never been so comfortable for the former Praetor agents.

Everything, and literally everything they would need and want is in the land ship that is known as Rhodes Island. There was not a single person who threatened them in a serious way and especially no bombs trying to blow them up. They could roam the streets without worry whatsoever and the feeling of comfort washed over them. Needless to say, they don't regret coming over and accepting the invitation to join.

Of course, their new life wasn't free. They have to pay for it through their services. They have been evaluated thoroughly and were put as special operators based on their precious experiences and current skills that they have. Since they are all very experienced already, this method of payment was no problem at all.

Torrent was put as the leader of the new squad that is aptly designated as 'Praetor Squad' which is composed of him, Odpis, Splinter, Strife, and surprisingly a former squadmate from Praetor Enterprises, Herald who explained that he went to Rhodes Island after the dissolution of the security company. There are only five of them, but perhaps that is enough - a squad of five highly experienced individuals simply has so much potential that the higher ups in Rhodes Island thought that it may be detrimental to add more people in. For now, five was enough.

The squad is currently spending the training day hanging out through their own ways; they didn't need to go to a constant training regime. No assignments were planned for them and so they found themselves roaming Rhodes Island.

Odpis and Splinter went off on their own, presumably to do dating stuff. The three who were left, Herald, Strife, and Torrent simply walked around with Herald being their tour guide as he has more time in the land ship than any of them did. Mostima, however, was not present. She had left Rhodes Island to tend to Messenger work, but not before saying goodbye to her friends and especially her boyfriend. She wasn't going for an extended leave, so she is expected to return soon anyways.

"That makes me wonder, though. Who gave the name of the entire landship? Was it a single person or a collective agreement?" Strife asked the Vulpo and their once-former squadmate, Herald.

"That's... a bit of a sensitive topic." Herald said as he scratched one of his ears.

"How so? Something happened?" Torrent asked, Herald nodded.

"You could say that." He mused before taking a sip from his coffee. "... It's probably a bad idea to let Splinter know, but even so, I doubt that I can just talk about it so casually." He added.

"Aren't you like a staff member with a really high rank here?" Strife inquired.

"Yeah. Chief Field Analyst." Herald answered. "It's just a fancy name for "you're in charge of looking for anything interesting" and that kind of stuff, but it is high up there." Herald said.

"So... I guess you could talk about the sensitive topic, eh?" Strife said while Torrent stared at the Feline's denseness.

"Well... yeah. It's more of an unwritten agreement among us staff members." Herald responded, still skeptical about revealing a secret. "But since it's you two, I suppose I can tell both of you about it."

"... It's really that sensitive, huh?" Torrent mused and Herald confirmed with a nod.

"It is. I can't say I know what it felt like back then as I was two years late. The person who gave this landship its name is Theresa." Herald said. Hearing that, both Torrent and Strife stared at the Vulpo. "Seems like you two are familiar with her."

"Theresa? Isn't she the...?" Strife trailed off, knowing the answer and realizing something.

"Yeah. The 'Sarkaz King' as she was known." Torrent finished for the feline.